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Android Market renamed to Google Play

The announcement of the name change as it appears on an Android phone
Google has rebranded the Android Market to Google Play and is uniting Google Music and the Google eBookstore under this common name. The new service will enable users to access content from a variety of devices, not limited to those running Android.

Using the new service, users from the US can buy music and ebooks, as well as rent movies; the content will be available on the web and through the rebranded Market application on Android devices. Google's ebook reader and the Google Music service will also be rebranded as Google Play Books and Google Play Music. UK users can access all the content except music as Google Music has not been launched in the UK. For other countries, the change means only a rebranded Market application as Google's content services aren't globally available.

The move indicates that Google is trying to emphasise the digital media side of their offerings, possibly aiming to decouple it from the Android operating system with this new, more generic name. The move also means that the company's books and music offerings are now immediately visible to the much larger user base of the more popular applications store. The announcement comes several days after reports surfaced that Google Music is not performing as well as initially expected. Google has also been revamping how it allows applications to be delivered, by increasing their maximum size to 4GB from its previous 50MB limit.